What is disk defragmentation, and how does it help speed up my PC?

Disk defragmentation is the process of rearranging data on a hard drive in order to make it faster and more efficient for the computer to access. It does this by consolidating the files that are scattered around the hard drive into neat, contiguous segments. By doing so, the time it takes the computer to locate, read and write data on the disk is greatly reduced. This can lead to faster boot times, improved application performance, as well as improved overall system stability.